Sweetwater, Sweeter Beer

My wife and I took a quick trip to Atlanta this past weekend and were able to take a quick visit and tour of Sweetwater Brewing Company. This is easily one of my favorite regional brewers and I clearly think their IPA is one of the best bottled India Pale Ales I have ever had. When I found out recently that Sweetwater doesn't pasteurize their bottled beer, I think I figured out why I like their bottled IPAs so much. The hoppy aroma and flavor isn't blasted away for the sake of longer shelf-life. Pasteurization may not make a big difference in taste of other ales, stouts, lagers and pilsners, but I truly think it hurts hop-heavy IPAs because while all beer is clearly better on draught, it is extremely evident when you compare bottled IPAs to tap-poured ones.


Sweetwater Brewing sits on a dead-end road in an industrial park in the shadow of I-85 near downtown Atlanta and you better be looking for it if you want to find it. No big fancy signs or touristy glitter. This is a working brewery that just happens to have a huge tasting room with a spacious bar that allows folks in for a few hours three days a week. For $12 we got a souvenir glass and 5 tasting tickets. The pours while not full glasses were generous and easy to get thanks to several tap stations despite the surprisingly big crowd that was there. I started with their new seasonal pilsner, Road Trip, and thought it was quite good for what it was. If I have got to drink pilsner, let it be fresh from the brewery. I next opted for the Georgia Brown, a solid brown ale that makes Newcastle pale in comparison. I went for the Blue next which is my wife's favorite. This was my first time having it on draught and it was delightful. I burned my last two tickets and one of wife's on my beloved IPA and the pure draught taste and aroma just blows me away every time.


The quick tour was bit ho-hum with a glorified bartender leading it. He seemed to have rather limited knowledge on the brewery and the brewing process. For example, my wife asked him why the Blue states that it is a "malted beverage" on their bottles and a not a "beer." He had no answer as to why and also admitted he never noticed the label saying that. (how about more beer and less pot, dude?). By the way, a malted beverage is technically a beer, but when flavoring is added to the original beer (for example, blueberries) then legally it can be described as a malt beverage. Despite our Jeff Spicoli tour guide, the Sweetwater operation looks slick and impressive. Our tour guide did reveal the important information I mentioned earlier about Sweetwater not pasteurizing their beer as they aim for quality not quantity. The biggest monetary drawback to non-pasteurized beer for a brewery is of course shelf-life and by that accord Sweetwater is only available in Georgia and it's surrounding states. It's that dedication to real beer taste and quality that makes this microbrew industry such a great thing.

ADDENDUM: Thanks to my friend, Rex, in Atlanta for sharing one of his Full Sail Pale Ales while we were there. A great bottled beer out of Hood River, Oregon.